Made In Space

Mark Watney, the fictional castaway from The Martian, would have had a hell of an easier time surviving on the Red Planet if he’d had Made in Space's technology. The Silicon Valley startup, funded in part by a $20 million NASA contract, developed a way to craft construction bricks from dirt and air. Instead of a flimsy habitat, Watney could have been living in a brick house while waiting to be rescued. Made in Space also pioneered the use of 3D printing technology on the International Space Station, allowing NASA and other ISS stakeholders to avoid wasting valuable space on rockets with equipment that needs to be over-protected against the violence of a launch. Now, they can store feedstock--plastics and even metals--on the space station and make real tools and components they need, like wrenches, hammers, motors, fans, and more, all automatically, and all using 3D models beamed up from Earth. The company's ultimate vision, says CEO Andrew Rush, is to help colonize the solar system. "We deeply, deeply believe that manufacturing is the key difference maker there," Rush says. "The difference between going on a camping trip to the woods and going and settling the frontier is the tools you take with you."